This must be gut wrenching for the rescuers to call off a rescue operation to free a man trapped in an abandoned Nevada mine.

RENO, Nev. — Rescuers ended an attempt to reach a man who was still alive after falling into a deep, unstable mine shaft, saying the effort posed too great a risk to people trying to descend into the pit.

A video camera determined the man was still breathing Friday after plunging 190 feet (58 metres) into the shaft on Wednesday in Jersey Valley, Nevada, northeast of Reno.

A priest had given last rites.

"The mine is so unstable that walls were crumbling and rocks were hitting rescuers on the head when they tried to reach him," JoLynn Worley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, told The Associated Press. "They're people who will make every effort to save someone, but they really can't get to him. It would endanger the lives of rescuers."

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